Baylor Brushes Back Sosa

Don Baylor never did learn to duck a fastball, considering he was hit by a major-league-record 267 pitches in his career.

So it figured that after being introduced Nov. 1 as the Cubs' new manager, Baylor wouldn't duck a question about Sammy Sosa.

"He has gotten away from what made him a real complete player--defense and stealing bases," Baylor said. "You [can't] become one-dimensional and only think about home runs."

More than a month passed before Baylor was able to reach Sosa by phone. When they finally did connect, Baylor was relieved.

"No. 1, we're on the same page," Baylor said. "I talked to him about running and he said: `Well, I was told not to. They backed me off on that.' So we had a great conversation about putting that back into his game."

While Baylor told Sosa that some of his comments had been "misconstrued," the rookie manager reiterated that he'd like Sosa's defense to improve.

Baylor said scouting reports on Sosa and left-fielder Henry Rodriguez's defense were "not favorable. We have to get our footwork back and [improve] because it's going to win us games."

For the record, Sosa has hit 129 homers over the last two seasons.

"The home runs are great," Baylor said, "but they've added up to one appearance as a wild card. I know [Sosa] would trade winning the division for at least half of those homers."